When I first moved to Scotland, I made a small bucket list. I was only here for a year after all. When I moved back in 2014, the list grew and grew and so did my discoveries. Below, you’ll find my Scottish bucket list, including suggestions and also those I’ve achieved since 2012.
Original list:
1) Get to know St Andrews like a local. ✓
2) Visit Edinburgh. ✓
3) Visit Edinburgh Castle. ✓
4) Ride the Jacobite Steam Train. ✓
5) Go to the Highland Games. ✓
6) Go to the Isle of Skye. ✓
7) See Eilean Donan Castle. ✓
8) See a Highland Cow. ✓
9) Go to the Highlands. ✓
10) See Loch Ness. ✓
11) See Glasgow. ✓
12) Visit 30 historic buildings (To date 26: Edinburgh, Rosslyn, St Andrews, Glamis, Old Inverlochy, Scone, Urquhart, Doune, Stirling, Duart, Inveraray, Tantallon, Dirleton, Craigmillar, Inchmahome Priory, Dunblane Cathedral, Iona Abbey, Cambuskenneth Abbey, Linlithgow Palace, Blackness Castle, Arbroath Abbey, Elgin Cathedral, Falkland Palace, Dunnottar Castle, Culzean, Glasgow Cathedral).
13) Go to Loch Lomond. ✓
14) See the Wallace Monument. ✓
15) Learn to golf. ✓
16) Visit a Whisky distillery. ✓
17) Learn to ceilidh. ✓
18) Visit Aberdeen. ✓
19) Visit the fishing village of Pennan.
20) Have a bonfire on the beach. ✓
Longer list:
21) Buy products at a Farmer’s Market (St Andrews, Stirling & Edinburgh). ✓
22) Do a New Year Dook.
23) Have afternoon tea at Hopetoun. ✓
24) Eat at one of the many Michelin starred restaurants. ✓
25) Do a road trip through the Highlands. ✓
26) Go snowboarding in the Cairngorms.
27) Visit Culzean Castle in Ayrshire. ✓
28) Do a Robert Burns pilgrimage in Dumfries.
29) Go hiking on the Galloway coastline.
30) Walk/Bike the Fife Coastal Path.
31) Visit Peebles in the Borders.
32) Visit Melrose Abbey.
33) Visit Stirling Castle. ✓
34) Attend a football game. ✓
35) Go see the Scotland rugby team play a game. ✓
36) Go to Loch Lomond and weep as I sing ‘Bonnie Banks’. ✓
37) Stay the night in a castle. ✓
38) Hike one of the Munros. ✓
39) See the Glenfinnan Viaduct. ✓
40) See the dolphins swimming at Moray Firth. ✓
41) Go all the way up to Cape Wrath.
42) See a circle of standing stones. ✓
43) Stay in the Gearrannan Blackhouse Village in the Outer Hebrides.
44) Go to the Isle of Mull. ✓
45) See the uninhabited island of Staffa.
46) Take surfing lessons in Dunbar. ✓
47) Visit Oban. ✓
48) Boat to Orkney and see the Ring of Brodgar.
49) Attend the Up Helly Aa festival in Lerwick on the Shetlands.
50) Visit all 7 of Scotland’s World Heritage Sites : Old and New Town of Edinburgh ✓ New Lanark ✓ Forth Rail Bridge ✓ Antonine Wall ✓ St Kilda & Heart of Neolithic Orkney.
51) Kayak the Forth of Firth
52) Abseil down the Forth Rail Bridge. ✓
53) Go to the Isle of Bute.
54) Bike the Water of Leith.
55) Go for a show at the Edinburgh Playhouse. ✓
56) Attend the Military Tattoo
57) See the Real Mary Kings Close. ✓
58) Eating lobster from the North Berwick Lobster Shack.
59) Go up the Scot Monument. ✓
60) Go to Camera Obscura. ✓
61) Take the Edinburgh Literary Tour.
62) Visit Edinburgh Zoo. ✓
63) Dynamic Earth.
64) Go to more Fringe shows. ✓
65) Going up Arthur’s Seat.
66) Take the Edinburgh Harry Potter Tour.
67) Go up Calton Hill. ✓
68) See Portobello Beach. ✓
69) Walk to Cramond Island.
70) Walk around Linlithgow Heritage Trail. ✓
71) Visit St Gile’s Cathedral. ✓
72) Visit the Scottish National Gallery. ✓
73) Visit the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. ✓
74) Visit the National Museum of Scotland. ✓
75) Visit The Writer’s Museum. ✓
76) Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens. ✓
77) Tour the Scottish Parliament. ✓
78) Go to the Edinburgh Christmas Market. ✓
79) Visit North Berwick. ✓
80) Visit the Kelvingrove Museum. ✓
81) Visit the Burrell Collection in Glasgow.
82) Walk through the Glasgow Necropolis. ✓
83) Walk through the Glasgow Green. ✓
84) Go to a concert in a venue in Glasgow. ✓
85) Go to the Falkirk Wheel. ✓
86) Glasgow Botanic Gardens.✓
87) Visit Falkland Palace. ✓
88) Visit Arbroath and its abbey. ✓
89) Take a boat trip to Eigg.
90) Kitesurf on Barra.
91) Stay the night in a Lighthouse.
92) Go Ape. ✓
93) Walk the Darn Walk from Bridge of Allan to Dunblane
94) Visit a sea life centre. ✓
95) Go to Loch Katrine and ride the steamship Sir Walter Scott. ✓
96) Go pony trekking in the Scottish nature. ✓
97) Visit the Glasgow Science Centre. ✓
98) Visit the Isle of Arran.
99) Visit Pitlochry Dam and Fish Ladder. ✓
100) Go to the Glasgow Big Feed. ✓